1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rear structure of a vehicle body having a tailgate, and more particularly, to a peripheral structure of a hinge for rotatably mounting a tailgate on the vehicle body.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-262260, filed on Sep. 27, 2006, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Minivans or station wagons have an opening formed in a rear part of the vehicle body and the opening is provided with a pop-up tailgate. In these kinds of vehicles, the tailgate is mounted to be vertically rotatable about a hinge disposed at the rear end of the roof. The hinge needs to have a large and strong structure so as to firmly mount the tailgate on the vehicle body, but the large hinge may cause a deterioration in design of the vehicle body.
As a result, a vehicle body has been developed in which a hinge for mounting the tailgate is disposed in a groove having a U-shaped section formed in the roof of the vehicle body (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2005-75195).
In the vehicle body, a hinge base is fixed to ends of U-shaped junction grooves which are formed in the junctions between both sides of a roof panel and roof side panels, extending in an anteroposterior direction of the vehicle body. Extension ends of gate hinges fixed to the upper end of the tailgate are rotatably connected to the hinge base. A resin hinge cover covering the hinge base is mounted on the junction groove of the vehicle body to which the hinge base is fixed. A notched groove for allowing a rotational displacement of the gate hinge accompanied with opening and closing operations of the tailgate is formed in a rear wall of the hinge cover.
However, in the conventional rear structure of the vehicle body, since the notched groove for allowing the displacement of the gate hinge is formed in the rear wall of the hinge cover, the notched groove is exposed from the rear of the vehicle body when the tailgate is closed, thereby deteriorating its appearance.